Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convenes the weekly cabinet meeting at the Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv, Israel, Jan. 7, 2024. (Credit: Ronen Zvulun/Reuters)
BEIRUT — Israel has “not yet finished the job” against Hezbollah, and its goal of dismantling the Lebanese Islamist movement “will not be achieved tomorrow,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on the first day of a ten-day truce with Lebanon.
The war against the Shiite movement allied with Tehran, which resumed on March 2, has allowed the “repulsion of two threats from Lebanon,” Netanyahu said in a video message: a “nearby threat” of “infiltration of thousands of terrorists into our territory” and “anti-tank missile fire on our communities,” as well as a “distant threat” of “missiles and rockets intended to destroy Israel’s cities.”
"Hezbollah today is only a shadow of itself ... but I say it honestly: we have not yet finished the job," he added, addressing Israelis, and the goal of "dismantling Hezbollah ... I repeat to you frankly ... will not be achieved tomorrow."
Benjamin Netanyahu explained that, at the request of the United States, Israel would nevertheless give a chance to the advancement of a "solution combining diplomacy and the military with the Lebanese government."
